HP NFV System provides a pre-integrated solution for carrier-grade NFV production deployments
As communications service providers (CSPs) look to move network functions virtualization (NFV) from proof-of-concept to deployment, HP is ready to help with a reliable, scalable, carrier-grade platform poised to drive innovation and speed time-to-market.
On May 5, HP announced its new HP NFV System, pre-integrated network functions virtualization (NFV) platform designed to enable communications service providers (CSPs) to accelerate production NFV deployments.
The future-proof, modular system starts with the HP NFV Starter Kit, which includes compute and control nodes running HP Helion OpenStack Carrier Grade, and physical infrastructure management software and storage nodes for cloud deployments.
“Many telcos and suppliers have done NFV proof-of-concepts and are now ready to move to production,” Saar Gillai, senior vice president and general manager, Network Functions Virtualization and Global Lead Telecommunications for HP, said.
“To do that, they need solutions that are open, carrier grade, and easy to deploy. HP NFV System provides an integrated, pre-tested, deployment-ready NFV hardware and software platform to get customers up-and-running quickly and confidently.”
Building on the Starter Kit, HP also announced its HP NFV Compute Kit, which includes server nodes to run virtual network functions coupled with packet processing to support telecom applications.
The HP NFV Control Kit is designed to reduce capital expense by utilizing existing infrastructure elements for the NFV compute and storage resources combined with HP Helion OpenStack Carrier Grade software as well as HP OneView, HP Intelligent Management Center and HP Central Management Console.
For high storage use cases such as media delivery networks, the HP NFV Storage Kit complements the other NFV kits for easy integration and accelerated delivery of new services, which helps customers minimize operational expenses.
HP’s blend of IT and telecommunications experience helps communications service providers leverage high flexibility for low investment.
In fact, HP’s NFV strategy is based on open standards, which is a natural evolution of its open source cloud; the absence of proprietary obstacles enables a communications service provider to pick and choose what it wants from the vast pool of network equipment providers, independent software vendors, systems integrators, and NFV platform suppliers.
“NFV is the biggest change for telcos since IP [Internet Protocol] showed up,” Gillai said. “Remember when we moved from dedicated lines and circuit switching to IP? That’s the level of change we’re seeing here.”
The HP NFV System product line is scheduled for availability in the third quarter of 2015. For more information on the HP NFV System, click here.
